


Faebait

by Willow_River



Series: Tale of the Forest [2]
Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Enchanted Forest, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fae & Fairies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7769440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow_River/pseuds/Willow_River
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aesling, realizing that she hasn't seen her friend Kyr in a while, decides to go check up on him. Markus, of course, follows along, and they find someone they didn't quite expect.</p>
<p>Character-creature ideas from this picture: http://gem-fae.tumblr.com/post/148723720444/so-a-lot-of-people-liked-the-first-one-s-o-heres</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faebait

“So, what are you doing here, anyway? In this forest, I mean,” Ashe asked one morning as they foraged for their breakfast. She popped a blackberry into her mouth. “Naga aren’t exactly common in this region.”

Markus settled back over one of his coils, the naga equivalent of leaning on his haunches, and stared up at a blue jay overhead. “Well, I used to live farther away, but let’s just say I and my own kind don’t really get along so well. A friend of mine happens to live around this forest, and he told me that it’s relatively naga free, so I decided to move in. It was just a few days before we met, actually.”

“Luckily for me, I guess. Who’s your friend?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Markus snapped his fingers and straightened. “You’d probably know him, wouldn’t you? He’s a centaur. Kyr.”

Ashe looked at Markus in surprise. “How do you know Kyr?”

“We just sort of ran into each other on the road, I guess. Kyr was giving some human kid a lift home and he found me hiding out under some bushes from the local villagers. He brought me some bread and tried to carry me to this forest. It didn’t work so well,” Markus gestured to his lengthy tail by way of explanation, “but he’s great for conversation!”

“Ha, yeah, that sounds like something Kyr would do. Speaking of, I haven't seen him in a while.” Ashe straightened and took a small pan flute from her belt. Bringing it to her lips, she piped out a brief melody.

Her ears flickered. She cocked her head. Picking a direction, she began walking, breakfast all but forgotten. Markus stared after her for a few moments before deciding to follow. She would do this sometimes; wander off with hardly a word like she’d gone into some sort of trance. She’d eventually come across some other fae and converse quietly with them before remembering that Markus was there. The pair had only been together for a couple of weeks now, so it was something he was still getting used to.

“You know, I’d really love to know how you do that,” he stated, ducking under a low branch.

“Do what?” Ashe said, suddenly startled.

“That thing with the flute and your ears and always finding people. Is that a faun thing?”

“Um… Yes and no? I mean, fauns are typically gifted on the panflute, for whatever reason, and there’s a deal of specialized magic in that…”

“But...?”

“I’m not just a normal faun.” Ashe continued walking at the same pace, but something in her movements had shifted, Markus noticed. Probably not something she was entirely confident talking about with someone she still hardly knew.

“And where are we going, exactly?”

Ashe glanced back at Markus this time. “I’m looking for Kyr. He hasn’t reported to me in a while. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“No, I don’t mind,” the naga assured her. “I want to see Kyr too. He promised to give me a tour weeks ago and I haven’t seen him since.”

Ashe looked ahead again, ears and tail flicking occasionally. “I hope he’s alright,” she muttered almost too quiet for Markus to hear.

 

They found Kyr eventually. He was in a sunny clearing, surrounded by flowers. He was resting on the ground and fiddling with something in front of him, his back being turned to Ashe and Markus.

“Kyr, it’s been three weeks,” Ashe stated in a tone that wasn’t quite annoyance, but almost bridging over to it from mild relief. “Where’ve you been?”

The redheaded centaur twisted his upper body around. He beamed when he spotted the faun and immediately tried to stand up, still half twisted around and tangling himself up in his own legs. “Oh, Aesling! You’re so hard to find, you know? I made a new friend!”

“Another one? Please don’t tell me it’s another human child ‘running away from home’.”

“... Mabye…”

“Kyr, you know what happens when humans come here. My leg’s still gimped from the last encounter I had with them.”

Kyr, who was struggling with his horse limbs mere moments ago, suddenly straightened to his full height. Markus blinked and suddenly the tall centaur was right in front of the comparatively tiny faun. “Humans hurt you, Aesling? Why didn’t you call me?”

“There wasn’t much chance to, Kyr. They were waiting near the trap I fell in. Please stop trying to put salve on my leg.”

“But you’re hurt because I wasn’t watching the border properly! I’m so sorry! I get so into something and them I’m distracted so easily because I made a new friend and he’s really nice and talks to the pixies all the time even though they can’t understand each other and look, he made me a scarf!” He grabbed the knitted length of fabric to show to Ashe.

“Kyr-”

“Please don’t be mad, Aesling. I know he’s a human, but he’s just a kid and he’s so nice and he promised not to tell the other humans about what’s in the forest and he’s teaching me how to make daisy crowns like you wear sometimes-”

“Kyr! I just want to know who he is and if that’s him that you’re trying to hide behind you right now.”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah! This is Gregor!” Kyr stepped aside to reveal a small human boy. He had big brown eyes and matching hair, and he gave Markus the impression of a lost puppy with the way he stared at the fae before him. 

“I’m guessing he doesn’t know Sylvan, then,” Markus said, finally speaking up.

Kyr turned to look at the naga, as if just noticing he was there. “Oh, hey, Markus! How’re you doing? Is that cave I showed you working out okay?”

Markus couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah, it’s great! Took me a few days to spruce it up, but I’ve got it liveable and almost comfortable now.” Ashe shot him a quizzical look at that remark, probably questioning his standards for comfort and why they were probably much higher than hers. “So what’s an easy faebait kid like this one doing in a fae forest like this?”

“The pixies tricked him in one day,” Ashe explained, seeming to recognize the boy before them. “He was wandering around lost for hours before I finally decided to get Kyr to take him home. He can speak human,” she added on, almost as an afterthought. 

“Yeah, and on the way back to his house, we made friends!”

“Mr. Kyr,” the boy suddenly spoke up in a voice that was frankly adorable for one speaking a human tongue, “why’s there a snake man here? Pappa says they only live in the south. Don’t they eat people?”

“Markus is a special naga,” Kyr explained in a halting, yet technically fluent, approximation of the boy’s language. “He does not like how humans taste. Other naga are mad at him. He ran away from home. He is a friend.”

Markus could see from the corner of his eye that Ashe was smiling just a bit as the boy called Gregor slowly nodded his head in understanding, then turned a bright smile towards Markus.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Markus!”

Though most naga would be loathe to admit such things, Markus was, as ever, an exception to the rule. His heart melted like snow in the middle of summer. With a chuckle, he grinned back at the boy, slithering up to ruffle his surprisingly soft hair.

“Nice to meet you too, Gregor.”

He could feel the surprised look Ashe was giving him behind his back. She was so much fun to surprise.


End file.
